JANICE Burnside had a long wait to try on her new clothes - after they went on a 15-mile journey on Manchester's Metrolink network.

The grandmother was trying to get on a tram when the doors closed, trapping most of her shopping inside.

Janice attempted to alert the driver but was left standing on Radcliffe station with just one of her four bags to show for the day's é300 shopping spree.

The three bags, containing zipper jackets and other clothing, travelled for 25 stops to the end of the line at Altrincham, where Metrolink staff recovered them. Janice, from Higher Crumpsall, Manchester, was reunited with her shopping two days later when she picked it up from a city centre depot.

She said: "I knew I had to be quick so I had my bags ready.

"I put three bags on the tram, close to the door, and went to get the next one when the doors shut. I pressed the button on the outside but it drove off."

Janice, who was travelling just six stops to Crumpsall at the time, is concerned that a child could be inadvertently left on a tram. She said: "I did get a shock initially - suppose it had been a child in a buggy? I also told Metrolink it was not very good that someone could put shopping on and not get on."

A Metrolink spokeswoman said the driver had not seen her get off the tram as he had pulled the mirrors into the body of the tram in readiness to set off.

She added: "This is not a normal occurrence. It is unfortunate she had gone out of the driver's sight.

"Had she informed the driver she was getting back off he would have stopped."